August 27, 2026

A prank order left a Wyoming pizza restaurant with 18 unwanted pizzas and a bill of roughly $300. Instead of letting all that food go to waste, the restaurant turned a frustrating situation into an opportunity to do something good.

Credit: L'Osteria Mondello on Facebook

L’Osteria Mondello in Cheyenne had been having an especially busy Friday when someone placed an order for 18 pizzas.

“We had like over 40 pizzas in the same time,” owner Dave Agovic told Cowboy State Daily.

The kitchen was so busy that the restaurant temporarily stopped accepting additional orders and warned customers they could be waiting up to two hours.

Still, the staff jumped on the large order and managed to have the 18 pizzas ready in about 40 minutes.

Then they waited. And waited.

Nobody came to pick them up.

Eventually, Agovic called the phone number used to place the order. The person who answered had no idea what he was talking about.

That's when Agovic realized the restaurant had been pranked.

It was an especially frustrating situation because L’Osteria Mondello doesn't normally require customers to pay in advance.

“We trust people,” Agovic explained. “Cheyenne is a small place, and Cheyenne is the place with wonderful people.”

But now there were 18 hot pizzas taking up valuable space, and Agovic had a much better idea than simply throwing them away.

He asked his employees what they should do with all the food.

Then someone suggested the hospital.

“Why don't we deliver it to the hospital?” Agovic said.

The team decided the emergency room at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center would be the perfect destination.

There was just one problem. Someone needed to deliver 18 pizzas.

Fortunately, help happened to walk through the door.

Owner Dave Agovic with Ryan Lemley

Ryan Lemley, an 18-year-old former L’Osteria Mondello employee who had worked there for more than two and a half years, stopped by the restaurant.

When he saw what was happening, he volunteered to help. Ryan loaded up all 18 pizzas and took them to the emergency room.

For Agovic, that young man became the hero of an otherwise frustrating afternoon.

“He was my hero that day,” Agovic said.

And just like that, a prank that could have resulted in hundreds of dollars worth of wasted food instead became a surprise meal for the people working in the ER.

Agovic said the decision felt especially fitting because of the people receiving the pizzas.

“They are very hardworking people and they help save a lot of lives around,” he said. “And I was like, let's donate, let's reward them.”

It's a simple reminder that we don't always get to choose what happens to us, but we can choose what we do next.

Someone tried to turn 18 pizzas into a joke.

The people at L’Osteria Mondello turned them into an act of kindness.

And somewhere in the middle of a very busy Friday, a bunch of hospital workers ended up with a much better surprise than anyone originally planned.